2011

Hmmmm....Year Of the Rabbit seems to be ushering in the Year of Chaos. With Unrest in the Middle East and the devastating Earthquake in Japan, 2011 looks to give credence to the theory that 2012 is indeed the year the world will end....and yet....

This is the year that my friend Nazreen welcomed his son. This is the year that my friends Benjamin Ting and Stella Cheong become husband and wife. This was the year that I met up with my old school buddies after a 28 year(!!) hiatus..surely these wonderful happenings wouldnt happen if the world is going to end?

Its still early days of 2011 and I cannot help but observe the true meaning of these occurences. The word that comes to mind in all these incidences is CHANGE. The earth is changing. People change. To think that things would remain the same forever would be to doom oneself to stagnation.

A proud father welcomes a son, a newlywed couple starts their next phase in life, the earth shifts its axis, the people want new administrators to govern them, all points to this undeniable fact :The only thing constant is change.

Having said that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. (witness the stupidity of Berita Harian's caricature of the earthquake, the state of M'sian politics, sic).

Could it be the lesson we take from these occurring and unfolding events is that we should not fear change but rather embrace it?

I believe that these events happen to not only test but also to nourish the human spirit. To remind us not to be comfortable in your comfort zone, to constantly sharpen the saw. We are capable of fantastic achievements physically , mentally and emotionally. These events reminds us of that.

July 2010

Well well well....here we are in the middle of 2010 and what has been acheived?

Good to have re-connected with old primary schoolmates. Nothing like a blast from a more innocent, trouble-free era to remind yourself that there's yet hope for humanity despite all the nastiness in the world.

Stopped the cancer stick for about 3 months before sliding back to the nasty habit...this one is quite exasperating as I have always thought myself as a fairly intelligent individual and no one who is that intelligent would continue smoking...ah well...battle continues...

Started a new gym. This achievement i must credit my friend who introduced me to this no-frills gym complete with an instructor costing CHEAPER. Yes the owned can be a tad wee annoying when he calls on u after not seeing you for 1 week ....but then again...its an OK gym and i cant wait for my six packs to emerge and also to quit the smokes.

Sis got a new place at Mont Kiara. Mum to move down from Kulim to be permanently based here in KL. The more upmarket Mont Kiara i guess has its perks but for me to live there permanently? Hmmmmm...gotta give it some thought. Sg Besi may not be what u would call up scale but its been home for the past 7 years and i kinda like the dingy, bachelor on the move feel with inconsiderate and rough neighbours feel to my current apartment ...besides dont think i can get a meal for RM5 in Mont Kiara thats for sure....ah well...we'll see how it goes.

Still havent struck that Million dollar lottery....but i can feel it getting close. Will start to igonore all you poor ppl once I struck it and get someone else to ghost write my blogs to give the impression that im really a genius writer who is undiscovered.

Still single. Been dating but the ONE still eludes me. Friends' children whom i have carried when they were newborn are now calling my Uncle Kevin and giving me tips on how to play PS3.

White hair. Ahhh....nothing like the sprouting of white hair to let you know that time is a clicking ....especially when said white hair starts sprouting out in places that gives new meaning to the adage "Old Cock".

Deaths. This year alone 2 friends have passed on, one younger than me! "When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced....Live your life so that when you die, the World will cry and you will rejoice"....that saying suddenly made very very good sense to me.

Shrinking....I remember measuring my height at 193cm only to have it pegged at 189cm these days...as long as THAT's all that shrinks .....im still OK i guess...hehe

Other then that, nothing much to complain about. Good friends are still intact..Sense of humour still sharp. Let's see what the next 6 months is gonna turn up !

2010

Well well well....here i am back to the keyboard after a hiatus of almost 8 months? Hmmmmm....

What has happened since the last blog? Lets see now...a new year has dawned, first signs of grey hair ( and not necessary at the usual places, i might add!), same ole place, same ole job....no matter how much things change, a lot more remain the same it seems...

So....stepping up my game was a so so venture for 2009, but am slowly getting there...this year's energies feels much better so im expecting great things to happen! Watch this space now...;)

My Raya 2009.

There i was...deciding if i should be heading on home before going out to meet a friend when I had this brilliant and ill fated idea to stop over from Subang to PJ for an early dinner. Dutifully turned off the Fed Highway onto to the PJ Hilton traffic light (green) then the 2nd traffic lite (red). Stopped at the traffic lite, looked into the rear view mirror, saw a Kanchil speeding at the first traffic lite, heard a screech saw the Kanchil ramming into my back.Bang goes 20 years of accident free bliss.
Kanchil front in a mess, guy comes out and says "you can go,nobody stops at the red here!" I look at him, look at the still red traffic lite and say "you must be kidding me, man!"
Driver begs not to make a police report as he works in a workshop (they somehow always do) and can get it done for me easily. I say nope..gonna make it anyways. Damage to Kanchil..massive. Radiator water flooding out, bonnet V-shaped. Damage to Vios: bumper caved in, boot cant be opened. Took pictures of both cars (knew there was a reason i was totting my digital cam around), drove dutifully to the friendly neigbourhood police station in Sec 8 (thank God for my years spent in Sec 8, otherwise i wouldnt have a clue which police station to go to). Along the way to police station i get 4 phone calls from Mr Kanchil trying to stop me from making a police report. Easy to ignore it when your still in shock and wondering "what if i had just gone home instead?". Reach the police station.

And thus begins my education on the whole process of having an accident. Make the police report, off to see the Investigating Officer, who takes down your details and grunts to his man to take a pic of your car. Then you gotta come back to get the Keputusan, i.e, the result of the IO's investigation as to who was at fault. Many thanks to my lawyer friend for accompanying me at the police station. Its funny how dynamics change when you have a lawyer friend present to see you through this.

Then comes the insurance claim. Apparently after your car hits the 5 year mark, theres this thing called the "betterment" clause, i.e a percentage is agreed upon which you have to top up when it comes time to repair your car.The older the car, the higher the percentage you have to top up IF you want the repair shop to use original parts. Seems that the older your car is, the lesser premium u pay the insurance comp, therefore you aint entitled to original parts. Sheesh.

So there i am, carless for a couple of days. Taxi to ANYWHERE from Sg Besi is definitely not cheap so after a few days, my friend's mum graciously lent me her Kelisa, bless her soul.

Now imagine a 6 feet 4 fatty squeezing into a Kelisa, driving on KL road. Thank God it was bright yellow or else i would have been totally ignored by the other bigger cars! My hats off to those who drive Kelisas in big bad KL. Love the car though for its zippiness.

Yes there are friends who said it was a lucky thing it wasnt that major an accident."Perhaps it would have prevented you from a REALLY major disaster. Well to me its like saying "lucky you broke your leg or else you could've broken your neck."

What a Raya....

Hini Plague and Smoking in Malaysia

Well we just recently confirmed our 26th Death from H1N1 and NOW the government is beginning to panic.

Lack of interest and precaution at the airport was enough to tell me that this government is just hoping the whole virus would just die a natural death and that we can all go on being just the way we are.

Which tells a lot about the people running this country. The Tidak Apa attitude looks to be well and thriving as long as it doesnt affect them. Guidelines and laws made are a joke simply because enforcement of these laws are lax or non existent.

Our anti-smoking campaign surely cannot be taken seriously..slapping grotesque pics on cigarette packets is supposed to deter Malaysians from smoking? Tolong sikit! Know your people. Know the mentality of the Malaysian before you decide you want to tell her/him what to do and what not to do (i have friends who choose the pre-mature baby pic on ciggy packs cos they think it looks cute!) Being one myself I have neither been detered nor affected by the governments' so called half hearted efforts at curbing smoking.

I think as I age (which seems alarmingly fast these days) I have become more and more aware of my suroundings...perhaps its only human nature that you start noticing things around you when you suddenly are made aware that your time is running short.

Guess its time we all just stop for a bit and take stock of not only our lives but the well being and state of our country. FOr better or worse it is the place of our birth. Our families and friends are here. Our children will be inheriting it for them and their children. What exactly they inherit lies in our hands. Here.Now.

So lets put the true meaning of Malaysia Boleh to work.Be kind to your country. Contribute your expertise and wisdom to its development. Instill the love of Malaysia into your kids. Fall in love with Malaysia all over again.

I slept with the Manchester United Team and all I got was a lousy poster

No...there wasnt an orgy of gangbanging. We were put up in Mandarin Oriental for the duration of their stay here in Malaysia and what an event it was!

Thanks to the bombing in Jakarta, the team decided to stay on another 4 more days! Which was a dream come true for their die hard fans but a nightmare for us the promoters.

OK ...lets start from the first day July 17th. Got news that the flight could be delayed to Malaysia as news of the bombing reached us. Now everyone was frantically worried that MU might cancel their tour here for security reasons.

Thank God they didnt. So in comes the MU team for their first leg of their Asian Tour. After freshening up, we whisked the team for their autograph signing session with the fans.

First to go in were the VIPs (Pahang royal entourage) Forget about classiness with the blue bloods...all they were concerned was to get the signature of their fav players and to take pics with them...geez.

Then we let the public in. I must say the players were very gracious and friendly ( could also be that this was the first leg so they were all raring to go) . Ugly side of the fans? Plenty. Even the Mandarin Oriental staff got an earful from yours truly for ripping off the posters which we put up to get the players signature. Shameless name throwing just to get close to the players were abound and i didnt know so many of our VIPs had hundreds of relatives, brothers, etc etc.

Me? Couldnt be bothered. Never did understand the MU craze anyways.

So after half a day of crowd control and ensuring the players were settled in, we then prepared for the trainning session which was opened to the public at Stadium Bukit Jalil. There we could watch for a full hour how these world class players trained.

Back to the hotel room for dinner after which we retired to our rooms at around 1 am.

The rooms were beautiful and comfy (for RM2600 a nite apartment, they even had a washing machine and a mini kitchen thrown in!)

My roomate was a snorer and he had invited a gal to join in. I couldnt take either of them so I ended up in our hall instead. End of day one.

On match day, the 18th of July, we were busy with the logistics of the stadium and preparing the huge banquet hall to serve as stretching room for the players.

As expected, fans were everywhere in the hotel with some of the richer parents booking rooms for their kids at the hotel in the hopes that they would bump into them!

The stadium was packed to the brim (85,000 full) but the fans were well behaved so we were OK. Result: MU 3, Malaysia 2.

Post match press conference had a bit of a hitch as the press room was not secured. Had to clear off the pesky fans personally to make way for Sir Alex Ferguson and Bobby Charlton to make their appearance.

To top that off, FAM, who was in charge of securing the stadium decided to lock some of the stadium exit doors immediately after the match..which caused the MU officials to go back and forth looking for an open exit.

It was here that the announcement was made that MU would play one more match against Malaysia ( to make up for their cancelled trip to Jakarta). That meant that we had to stay an extra 4 more days at the hotel....groan.

Lets talk about Mandarin Oriental for a bit. One would expect top class service from this prestigious hotel but i found it wanting at the dining area where slow service and dumb waiters spoilt my impression of the hotel. Perhaps it was because i had scolded their colleagues at the signing ceremony. The food was Middle Eastern themed (to cater to the Arabs). OK for the the first 2 meals...tiresome after 6 days! I think i have had every single dish in their ala carte menu. Wont be going there for a while thats for sure.

Day 2 started off pretty well as it was merely to be a repeat of day 1. Final score 2-0 in you know who's favor.

Day 3 was for the team's free and easy day.To us it means even more worrying and fretting as players are supposed to be on relax mode in which anything goes. Request for a game of golf was sent out and thus began the frantic search for a golf resort to host these players.

Funny thing about being a celebrity football team..all the golf resorts were practically spreading their corporate legs begging the team to play at their resorts. (though one was particularly money crazed, demanding RM10,000 for a set of golf clubs EACH. We told them where they could stuff the clubs).

Ended up in KLGCC. GM there was 1st class in helping us get what we wanted for the players. The in-house golf shop made great business providing MU with RM600 dollar golf shoes and other necessary golf kits. GM came with a worried look telling us a crowd had built up in front of the lobby. We laughed when we saw a "huge" crowd of 20 fans waiting politely in line to get the players autographs(try staving off 200 fans in a cramped up hotel lobby and you know why we werent worried at all).

Team had a good time at the golf course though there was an early thunderstorm scare that threathened to put the whole thing off. Superb drainage and providence made everyone happy, especially Ferguson..

Well then it was dinner time with the MU officials and to be frank, didnt leave much of an impression on me. I mean here these ppl were, caretakers of probably the most famous brands in the world and from our conversations I still have this nagging feeling that at the end their're just common folks thrown into the limelight. With the exception of Sir Bobby Charlton, who was the epitome of class, the rest of them were just tagging along for the ride.

Ah well... thats one event down. Lets see if Real Madrid is in the cards for next year....

Manchester United Invades Malaysia

Well its time once again where grown men are reduced to starry eyed little boys and dignified women go screaming and forget their composure..yes...Manchester United is coming to town.

Have been helping out in the organization of some big names in the soccer world, the last being for Chelsea in Malaysia.

Am not a football fan at all. I was always put in the goalie positions due to my height and even joined an Indian association football team (which was hilarious since I was the only Chinese looking player amongst all the Indians, but since my IC is Indian, technically I was allowed)

Not being a fan means I am not affected by the presence of these international celebrities. Am not awe struck or use the opportunity to get autographs from the players, unlike the fans.

Now that's a totally different breed of animals, the fans. They will camp outside the hotel during the player's stay, some will ride the elevators of the hotel the whole time hoping to bump into their favourite players, ignore all "no entry" signs and basically make an ass out of themselves but do they care? Not one bit. CEOs and MDs of companies are giggling little idiots when it comes to meeting their fav player. Captains of industries are shy and akward in front of the players.

I get a kick watching the reaction of these people. For me, its like "oh Wayne Rooney ah?...why so short?"

I suppose if Al Pacino or Robert De Niro were to come to Malaysia I would be reduced to hysterical screaming and jumping up and down like a starcrazed fan too.

Well I shall update on what happened after the event. In the meantime I have to get out my old t-shirts (the fans will tear at them to get to the players) and brush up on my martial arts (the fans will fight to get to the players)

Its gonna be a long weekend......